Wish I Hadn't
by baynemmett4life
Summary: Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone wishes they could take it all back and make it up. But can love prevail through every storm? Is love really enough? Is blood thicker than water? Or the other way around? In this story I will primarily bring forth Bay and Emmett, but introduce other plot lines along the way. Maybe Daphne's trial, Regina and Angelo's relationship. Who knows?
1. Chapter 1

**Wish I Hadn't**

Standing in her art studio, Bay stared at an empty canvas. Months had gone by since Ty had cheated on her, but he still dominated her thoughts. Emmett was her only comfort. He held her when she cried, listened to her complaints. She still loved him deeply, but she was holding out, afraid she'd get hurt again.

With music playing from her Ipod, she didn't hear footsteps approaching behind her. She pulled her ear-buds out and spun around when she felt the light touch that she had become accustomed to on her shoulder. She assumed it must be Emmett and was surprised to find Daphne, tears dried on her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately concerned.

"You haven't heard?" Daphne seemed surprised.

"What are you talking about?" Bay was starting to get confused. What was she supposed to know about?

"It's Ty. They found his body in the field. He died protecting his country."

**Note** I really debated getting a FanFiction so I would really appreciate your reviews. I am all for Bay and Emmett but will be introducing other plots as well. Happy reading!


	2. Chapter 2

****Note** I apologize for the length of the first chapter. I didn't realize how short it was typed up. I'm starting to get used to the way FanFiction works. I now know that I can save and edit later before posting. Thank you for your patience. I know I haven't posted in a couple of days. it's so much easier to read all the stories and continue writing knew stuff for this story than it is to revisit all of this older material and edit and revise it. I'll try to get better at posting and get you all caught up to where I'm currently at. I got a review asking for me to write each chapter like an episode. I have some chapters that are written like an episode or a part to an episode. More of those will show up when I introduce the other plot lines as well. I really appreciate the reviews. They keep me enthusiastic about writing and posting. I would appreciate seeing more reviews with the chapters. Thnk you for reviewing and following. It means a lot to me.**

****Disclaimer** I do not own this amazing show. I only own my own ideas. **

"Oh my gosh," she set the paintbrush down on the table and moved away from the easel. "Does Mary Beth know?"

"I don't know. What happened between you guys anyways? You never talk about him and I'm pretty sure you never kept in contact with him like you did last time," Daphne prodded.

Bay hesitated but then decided that it was time to tell her the truth. "He slept with a medic from his unit. Left the evidence right there in his room," she tried to sound indifferent.

"Ty cheated?" Daphne sounded skeptical.

"Typically that is the term used when one is currently in a relationship and yet they sleep with someone else," Bay's voice held a sarcastic tone.

"I don't believe it. I've known Ty for a long time and he would never cheat."

"You've known Emmett for a long time too and you would never believe that he would do something like that."

A strange silence settled between them.

"Sorry," Bay apologized. "I have to go see Mary Beth."

She grabbed her keys and started out to the parking lot. She turned around at the sound of a motorcycle. Emmett parked near her and hopped off. He moved swiftly toward her, concerned by the tears on her face.

"Are you OK?" He asked, signing.

"No," she swallowed a sob.

"What's wrong?"

"They found Ty's body. He died in combat."

She sobbed into the gentle, loving arms that circled around her.

When she calmed down, Emmett offered his condolences, "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

_Be here._ She wanted to say but held back; she'd just lost her first. Now wasn't the time to be jumping into the arms of her ex-boyfriend.

"Could you take me to Mary Beth's?" She asked instead. "She needs to know."

"Of course."

He escorted her to his motorcycle, an arm around her shoulder, pained by her angst. 

They pulled up in front of Mary Beth's home. Bay rang the doorbell and stepped back, smearing her tears with clammy hands. Emmett kept his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close, protecting her. She was eternally grateful for her presence.

Mary Beth came to the door and ushered them inside the well furnished home. She immediately asked what was wrong.

"Have you heard the news about Ty?" Bay asked.

"No. What happened?"

"They found his body. Dead. He died protecting his country," sobs racked her body, punctuating the sentence with unnecessary breaks. "I thought he was only supposed to be over there for a few months! It's been four and a half! He was supposed to be in Germany by now!" The words spilled from her lips.

"Things changed," Mary Beth put simply.

"You knew about this!"

"You haven't talked to him since . . . . that night, have you?" Mary Beth asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"No. There hasn't been any reason to."

"That's what I though," Mary Beth's eyes became unfocused, staring at an empty spot on the wall.

"Mary Beth, what is going on?"

She took a moment to answer. "You told me that he 'cheated' on you, right?" She put finger quotations around the word 'cheated.'

"No, I told you he cheated on me. No quotation marks necessary. The evidence was right there in his room," she swept her arm around the living room for emphasis.

In the background, Emmett was struggling to follow along for they had both long ago abandoned signing.

"He lied to you, Bay," Mary Beth continued. "He wanted to protect you because he found out he was going to be in a war zone the _entire time_. Not part of it and then Germany. All of it."

"So what, he thought he'd make me hate him so it wouldn't hurt as much when he didn't come back?" Bay cried.

The silence in the room was answer enough.

She ran a hand through her loose hair and spun around, groaning in frustration. She spun back to Mary Beth. "You knew about this?"

"I knew him so well that I caught him in his lie. He had no intention of telling me. But when I confronted him he gave up," Mary Beth started to beg, " You have to understand, Bay. I didn't want to keep this from you. But he forced me too. It was his last wish."

Bay stood still, shaking her head in disbelief. _Refusing_ to believe this was happening.

"No," her voice hardly sounded like it belonged to her. She turned around and stalked out the door.

Emmett wavered, unsure whether he should follow her or give her her space.

"You should probably go after her," Mary Beth signed slowly and deliberately.

He turned the door nob and turned back around to face her.

"Thank you. She deserves to know the truth."

With that he exited the room and eased the door closed.


	3. Chapter 3: Behind Every Door

****Note** in this chapter, I imagined what it could look like if it was an episode. That's what the jumping between characters does, giving a different setting in the episode. I know that normally, it would go from Bay and Emmett to something going on with Daphne or the Kennish's. But that's not how I'm doing it this time. I also like to think of songs that I would personally use if this was an episode. In this chapter I chose the song ****_Cry With You_**** by ****_Hunter Hayes._**** Once the scene changes is when the song would end.**

**Thank you for the reviews! They really help inspire me to continue. I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I know that I said that I'd try to get better at updating, so I'm sorry. At first it was because I was reading way more than I was writing but this week it is because of my crazy schedule. As far as I know, the next week is going to be pretty mellow so I'm hoping to get more posted. Thank you for your patience!**

****Disclaimer** I don't own Switched at Birth or the characters, only my own ideas.**

**I've also decided to do something different for signing and signing and talking:**

**Bold: Signing only**

Underline: Signing and talking

_Italics: Direct thoughts or flashback  
_

Normal talk

(-,-)

Bay stood, leaning against his motorcycle, face buried in her hands. Emmett saw her at the doorway and stopped to watch her. She couldn't see him; a giant oak tree stood in the way.

****Song****

His heart ached at the sight of her, so weak, standing there in so much pain. He wanted to take her away, hold her in his arms; keep her from ever hurting again. He wanted to protect her, let her know that his love would always be enough to keep fer away from any pain.

But he had to be patient. He'd been patient for so long. But he knew that one day, it'd pay off. They were so much closer than they were just a few months ago.

He made his appearance from behind the tree. Bay didn't hear or see him coming, so lost in her pain. His hand landed like a feather on her arm and wet eyes peered up at him. His arms gently folded her into his embrace.

(-,-)

Mary Beth stood in her living room, simply furious. With Ty who had to make her keep this from her. With herself for listening to him. With the army for sending him back over there, even though it's in the job description. Even though she knew she had zero control over it. Even though she knew that she wouldn't want to do anything about it.

How could she have kept this from her? How could she let him convince her into hiding this by using her brother against her?

How could she be that weak?

She hadn't heard the sound of them leaving, so she pulled back the curtain a little bit and peered out. Emmett held Bay in his arms and swayed her side to side, soothing her cries.

She tried to imagine how she would feel if she found out that Travis had died and been buried with a secret that only Bay knew. The thought made her spin crawl and goosebumps formed on her arms.

She shivered and shoved the fabric back into place, disgusted with herself for lying. She sank down into the over-stuffed couch the lined the back wall with the disturbing realization that she might never get her best friend back again.

(-,-)

Bay began to calm down as Emmett's hand drew calming circles on her back. She lifted her head from his shoulder, eyes sore from crying.

"Let's get ou - " she lost her train of thought when she looked up at his face, wet with tear stains. She hadn't know he was crying. She didn't know what to think of the behavior.

Unbeknowingly, she lifted a hand to his face and gently brushed at the tears, her touch light. Her hand found its way to his bangs and she stopped, unsure of what she was doing but not wanting this feeling to end. That day so long ago filled her mind. . .

_~flashback~_

_The day was bright and the air smelled of flowers and cosmetics and fake blood. They were making the Dawn of the Deaf and were having way to much fun doing it!_

_Messing around off set, in other words "rehearsing," Emmett caught her around the waste and spun her around. They both landed on the lawn. It really was a perfect day to be alive._

_He pulled her up and spun her into his arms, reminding her in a very suggestive way of the their kiss in the movie. Just one of many of his reminders. _

_But when Simone just shows up out of nowhere, something seems off; and Bay does all she can to cling on to that kiss, the memory fading away._

_~End flashback~_

Bay dispelled the memory from her mind with a shake of her head and quickly dropped her hand.

"Let's get out of here," she turned around and ran a shaky hand through her hair. She couldn't do this, not now. It was too soon.

"**Where do you want to go**?" He signed, eyes soft.

"Back in time," she groaned aloud at the implication. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

"**Unless my motorcycle turns into a time machine, then I'm afraid that's not possible**," he joked, knowing it'd fall short but hoping to lighten the mood anyways. He mentally kicked himself for his word choice; all of those memories that rode with that bike, all of those laughs and kisses they had shared here, it was practically a time machine. He couldn't walk by it without missing the taste of her lips or the smell of her hair.

The small smile that teased the corners of her lips brought him back to reality. "I don't care. Anywhere."

With that he tossed her the spare helmet.

(-,-)

Ten minutes later, he stopped in front of a white slab building, a billboard looming in the background. Bay recognized the location immediately. The stone walls were permanently painted in her mind. He remembered their fight outside of here just about a year ago.

She tapped his shoulder and he turned his head, "What are we doing here?" She asked.

He shrugged and climbed off the bike, taking off his helmet while signing with one hand, "**You said anywhere,**" he set the helmet on the seat. "**Did you notice the billboard?**"

Bay followed his pointing finger to a billboard towering over everything, watching her step as she stood. Her breath caught in her lungs.

"How did you . . ."

A picture of them on his motorcycle breaking through a wall, her artwork, was proudly displayed above all.

"**I was more careful this time. Covered my license plate, watched for security cameras,**" Emmett explained.

"How long - " she let the rest of the sentence fade away.

"**How long has it been up there?**" He shrugged, "**A couple of weeks. I haven't been arrested yet so I think I'm in the clear.**"

She threw her arms around his neck and hung on. She pulled back for and looked into those blue eyes, her face lit in a new light.

"**It's perfect. Thank you.**"


	4. Chapter 4: Forever

**I'm on a time crunch to get this done before the Season 3 premier so I promise that I will do better at uploading!**

**In the last chapter, I chose the song _Cry With You _by _Hunter Hayes. _I meant to post the link to it so here it is:**

** watch?v=VdirtOz8nXA**

**Also, in this chapter I'm going to be choosing _December_ by _Taylor Swift_. The link to this one is:**

** watch?v=JWXIvFmTI3g**

**I need opinions. What would you think of a poem at the beginning of every chapter? I've been thinking about it for awhile now and I really enjoy writing poems, but would you enjoy reading them? Please review!**

**Bold: Signing**

_Italics: Thought or flashback._

Underline: Signing and talking

Regular: Talking

**Disclaimer: I don't own Switched at Birth (wish I did but I don't). I only own my own thoughts.**

(-,-)

Bay was as confused as ever. But then again, she'd never seen things clearer.

She knew without a doubt in the world that Emmett would be there for her, always. Through thick or thin, through every cloudy day and every sunny patch of field.

What Ty did was terrible. To know that he could possibly think that to not be waiting for him was going to make it hurt any less when he was gone was so wrong. It still hurt. She'd given herself to him. She'd thought that she loved him. Now she knew how wrong she was to pursue him. He showed no interest in her until she'd expressed her interest in him. She'd let one sentence convince her to sleep with a lying cheat.

At least Emmett had been honest with her in the end. But know she knew from a friend. Or maybe the word is "friend." How could she keep something like this from her? And the question is did he come clean or did he get caught?

As much as she mourned his death, she could never forgive him for that. Cheating is pretty bad, but lying about cheating is by far the worst offense.

And if she could let a few sweet nothings coerce her into bed, how many words had Emmett spent, but to no avail?

How could she be so dense?

And then she knew what she had to do.

(-,-)

The lights flashed in the living room. Emmett turned off the television and moved toward the door. Melody was out and he wasn't expecting anyone. A quick check of the peephole confirmed it was Bay. He hadn't seen her since earlier that afternoon.

He hadn't planned to show her the billboard yet; he'd wanted to wait until some night when it felt just right. He'd designed to have it illuminated in the dark; a symbolic gesture as much as a method to show off her artwork.

He was surprised by her reaction to seeing the billboard. But then again, he really didn't know what he expected. Of course he wanted to see her ecstatic, with him.

The lights flashed again and pulled him back to reality. He didn't realize that he was just standing there, staring at her through the peephole. He unlocked the door and pulled it open.

(-,-)

Bay didn't wait for an invitation; she knew she was always invited. She was slightly surprised that it's taken him so long to answer the door, but immensely relieved when he did.

"I'm sorry," she started. "About everything."

Emmett lifted his hands but she didn't give him the chance to say anything.

"You have been trying so hard and it's like one moment I notice, and the next I'm too busy with my head in the sand. I see that now and I feel terrible.

"I wish that I could just take it back, make different decisions," she took a deep breath. She hadn't expected this too be so hard. "But I can't.

"So instead of forgetting and trying again, let's remember our mistakes and learn from them ad start a second time."

For a few seconds, Emmett just stared at her. She could tell she'd surprised him. Then, with a new look in his eyes, he lifted his hands.

"**Are you sure? I mean, I don't know why I'm even questioning this, but I don't want this to be a rebound for you,**" he holds his hands in front of him, clasped together.

She took a step forward and put her hands on his. She lifted one and signed, "**I love you and I'm not gonna let you go."**

The air seemed to crackle with an air of electricity in the space of a few seconds. Neither was sure who moved first, but lips brushed lips. Bay groaned when he pulled away.

"Forever," Emmett spoke.

Bay started at the sound of his voice, but an easy smile covered her shock. _Oh how easy it would be to get used to this, _she thought. She doubled his sentiment, speaking his language, "**Forever.**"

His hand found a way to the nape of her neck, drawing her close. Her lips parted and her eyes fluttered closed. Their mouths met in a fiery abandonment.

****Song****

(-,-)

**This scene I wrote like an episode. The song would play most of the way through as the camera pans out on the couple, the credits running on the bottom of the screen.**

**Please review!**


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